“Harakiri brilliantly attacks blind, arbitrary adherence to tradition at the expense of human values, a problem that Kobayashi sees existing in modern Japan as well as in the film's 17th-century setting. The story concerns a samurai out to destroy the honor of the clan that, as an example to those who would shame the samurai code by subterfuge, forced his son-in-law to commit an agonizing ritual suicide. The vengeful man's chilling narrative is made all the more riveting by his calm delivery and the ominous stillness of the camera. Kobayashi punctuates this nervous stillness with short bursts of violence and gruesome horror.” --Sheldon Renan